Co-working and cool-working

Clock on for hot yoga, proper coffee and basketball. The nine to fiver in Midtown works hard and stays fun

Thursday 2 October 2014 10:45 BST

Ding dong, the desk is dead. At least the desk as we know it: workplaces in the capital are transforming their workspaces and practices in order to recharge staff. And offices in Midtown are keen on the revolution: in the Holborn, Bloomsbury, St Giles nexus — home to start-ups, design agencies, law firms and consultancies — the workspace has evolved light years from the beige open-plan pods of yesteryear.

Co-working is the buzzword of the modern office — or non-office — and Midtown has Central Working Bloomsbury: the flagship club of the co-working chain, which also has spaces in Whitechapel and Shoreditch. Its spaces are divided into chattering collaborative areas and quieter workspaces.

“To us, Midtown is the heart of media, publishing and the arts,” comments James Layfield, CEO of Central Working. “The people are a cool, artsy crowd — writers and people who work in film. It’s got the proximity to Soho without the ridiculous prices. It’s slightly off the beaten track despite being in the centre of town.

“Opening there is the best thing we ever did,” he adds. “Usually these sort of spaces only exist in east London. But we have 400 members in Bloomsbury. Angry Birds launched from there. There are so many hidden gems in the area. I love Store Street Espresso, for example.”

Meanwhile, down the road at Central Saint Giles is the king of alternative workspaces, Google. With its library, faux-grassy knolls and outdoor terraces, work is all about options. And for the staff at Warner Brothers on Theobald’s Road there are two cinemas for private screenings — keeping up with movies being an essential part of the job.

At LinkedIn, employees take part in hotpod yoga in portable pods that are erected temporarily in their offices in Gresse Street. King.com is based in the Google building — like its tech-giant counterpart, it has breakout rooms filled with foozeball tables and other adult playground features. Fittingly, the NBA London office on Shaftesbury Avenue has a full-sized basketball court.

“As you enter, you’re greeted by a ‘ball wall’ featuring 132 official NBA balls — often a good trivia question for guests,” explains Tom Marchesi, communications director at the NBA in London. “A 10ft x 5ft screen showing 24/7 NBA content and video games is a welcome distraction after a long conference call. Meeting rooms are named after NBA legends such as Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson.”

The policy is work hard, play hard — and Midtown works all the better for it.